weight loss testimony

Nick Cerda: Abandoning the Food Crutch

By Christine WilsonThe 700 Club

CBN.com
 “I took a group of kids to an amusement park. We’re there on the roller coaster and we’re getting strapped in and there’s something that’s keeping us from taking off on this rollercoaster. The guys at the control booth are trying to figure it out and I have no idea what’s going on. After some time goes on, they walk up to me and they tell me that I am too big to ride on this ride and the safety constraint couldn’t come down far enough. I was devastated. It was definitely embarrassing."

“I couldn’t run at all without being out of breath," he tells The 700 Club. "I couldn’t play with our child, our son. I would play with him, but I was tired. Since I had a weight problem my whole adult life, I assumed this is what life is like.”

If fatigue wasn’t a big enough clue that Nick needed to take off the weight, his body size should have been. But it wasn’t.

“Every time I saw my pictures or my reflection, there was something inside me that didn’t like what it saw, but not enough that it bothered me to do something about it. I found food as a source of feeling good. If I got stressed out, even as a kid, I would turn to food for comfort.”

Then Nick got a wake up call. He had hurt his wrist and went to see a doctor. The doctor told him his wrist wasn’t the problem.

“Rather than diagnosing my wrist problem, she looked at me and said, ‘you’re overweight to the point that it’s dangerous.’ That conversation let me know how far I had let the problem go.”

The doctor recommended weight loss surgery, but Nick refused.

Nick decided it was time to do something. His wife, Heather, suggested that the entire family develop healthier eating habits. They began eating whole grains and lean proteins. It was just what Nick needed to jump start his new endeavor. Little by little, the weight came off.

“My first goal was to get down under 300. Then as I got closer to 300, I said, ‘how about 250?’”

He also began to exercise.

“It was as simple as just walking. I would stick on shoes and clothes and go for a walk. I would set a goal and complete the goal; and right as I was about to complete a goal, I would set a new goal. Constantly setting those smaller goals got me here.”

He said God helped him stick to his plan.

“One thing that would motivate me, particularly as I would stall sometimes in the pounds coming off, they weren’t coming off as quickly - I didn’t want to go to the gym, was just knowing my identity in Jesus Christ. It says in the scriptures, ‘God has called you and He is faithful to do it.’”

As the weight came off, Nick began to make other goals for himself, like running a 5k race.

“I would run until I couldn’t run anymore; then after that, walk breaks until I had covered the required distance. It was painful. It wasn’t a real enjoyable process.”

He kept at it and now runs 25-30 miles a week. More importantly, he now weighs only 199 pounds. That’s over 250 pounds of weight loss!

“I feel empowered now to even speak greater about discipline. It is a spiritual issue. Food is not our crutch. Food is not our comfort, that's Gods alone. That's God's place.”